Police in Northern Ireland plan to question witnesses to the “Bloody Sunday Massacre” of civilians by British soldiers in Derry more than 40 years ago.  Those 20 soldiers could conceivably face arrest and questioning for murder, attempted murder, or criminal injury.

“Preliminary work has begun into what will be a lengthy and complex investigation,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

Much of the reaction to the news that British troops could be held accountable for their actions fell along the same lines as “The Troubles”; pro-British unionists condemned it. General Lord Richard Dannatt wrote in the Daily Telegraph that “Bloody Sunday was an ugly chapter, but it is a closed chapter, and closed it should remain.”

But pro-Republican welcomed a chance at justice after so many decades.  But John Kelly, whose 17-year-old brother Michael was fatally injured 41 years ago, said that amnesty for soldiers behind the killings are “supporting murderers and the crime itself.”

The UK Ministry of Defense had no comment, but reportedly hired lawyers to represent the soldiers, now in their 60s and 70s.

On Sunday, January 30, 1972, the British troops opened fire on an unauthorized march of civil rights protesters in the Bogside, a nationalist area of Derry.  Thirteen people were killed on the spot, by British bullets and by vehicle impact; another was mortally wounded and died months later.  Thirteen more people were injured.  All were unarmed Roman Catholics.

In 2010, an inquiry by High Court judge Lord Saville concluded that there was no justification for the shootings.  That prompted UK Prime Minister David Cameron to apologize for the killings.